The cornea of the eye is essential for good vision. It is the outermost tissue of the eye and functions like a window controlling the entry of light into the eye. An established branch of ophthalmic medicine is the examination of optically reflected corneal images as a diagnostic tool in the identification of trachomatous scarring, cataracts, injuries or bacterial and viral infections. These images are captured using slit-lamps to provide a narrow beam of light of elongated slit-shaped cross-section which is projected onto the cornea to study the surface characteristics. The reflected image is in effect an optical section of the anterior part of the eye including the cornea, the anterior chamber, the iris or the lens and the anterior part of the vitreous. For identifying some conditions, the ophthalmologist seeks to identify changes in the reflected image over time.
Commercial slit-lamp instruments are generally available in relatively expensive fixed installations in clinics and ophthalmologists' rooms. Patients must generally come to the instruments and this presents a problem in monitoring the eye health of populations in more sparsely populated and remote regions.
It is an object of this invention to provide a portable slit-lamp which assists in addressing these disadvantages with the form and siting of conventional slit-lamp instruments.
At least one portable slit-lamp is commercially available but this instrument is only a partial solution to the problem discussed above in that it does at least allow the ophthalmologist or ophthalmic surgeon to come to the patient.